and the nursing woman, if they fear for their children. They may break their fasts and make them up, and along with making them up they must offer compensatory feeding. This was the view of Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbas; Mujahid held it as well, and al-Shafiʿi adopted it. Others said that no compensatory feeding is due from them. This was the view of al-Hasan, ʿAtaʾ, Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi, and al-Zuhri; and it was adopted by al-Awzaʿi, al-Thawri, and the jurists of independent reasoning. As for the one required to make up the fast without expiation, it is the sick person, the traveller, the menstruating woman, and the woman experiencing postnatal bleeding.

As for the one required to offer expiation without making up the fast, it is the elderly person and the sick person whose recovery is not hoped for. (1)

“The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was sent down as guidance for humankind, with clear proofs of guidance and the Criterion. So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it; and whoever is sick or on a journey, then let him fast the same number of other days. Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you, so that you may complete the prescribed number and magnify Allah for having guided you, and perhaps you will give thanks.” (185)

Allah Most High then clarified the days of fasting, saying: “The month of Ramadan.” It is in the nominative case with the implied meaning, “It is the month of Ramadan.” Al-Kisaʾi said: “The month of Ramadan has been prescribed for you.” The month was called a month because of its renown. As for Ramadan, Mujahid said: “It is one of the names of Allah Most High; one says, ‘the month of Ramadan,’ just as one says, ‘the month of Allah.’” The correct view is that it is the name of the month. It was named from ramḍāʾ, meaning heated stones, because they used to fast in it during intense heat, when the stones would become scorching from the heat.

His saying: “in which the Quran was sent down.” The Quran was called Quran because it brings together the surahs, verses, and letters; and it comprises narratives, commands, prohibitions, promises, and warnings.

The root meaning of qarʾ is gathering, and the hamzah may be omitted from it. Thus one says, “I gathered the water in the basin.” Ibn Kathir recited it as al-Qurān, with the rāʾ vowelled with fatḥah and without a hamzah. Al-Shafiʿi likewise recited it, saying: “It is not derived from recitation; rather, it is the name of this Book, like the Torah and the Gospel.”

It is related from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbas, that he was asked about His saying, “The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was sent down”; “Indeed, We sent it down on the Night of Decree” (1—Surat al-Qadr); and His saying, “Indeed, We sent it down on a blessed night” (3—Surat al-Dukhan), even though it was revealed throughout the other months. And He said, “And a Quran which We have divided into portions” (106—Surat al-Israʾ). He replied: “The Quran was sent down all at once from the Preserved Tablet, on the Night of Decree in the month of Ramadan, to the House of Might in the lowest heaven. Then Gabriel brought it down to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, in portions over twenty-three years. That is the meaning of His saying: ‘So I swear not by the positions of the stars’ (75—Surat al-Waqiʿah).”

Dawud ibn Abi Hind said: “I said to al-Shaʿbi: ‘The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was sent down’—was it not revealed during the other months?” He replied: “Indeed it was. But in Ramadan, Gabriel would review with Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, what had been sent down to him; then Allah makes firm what He wills, confirms what He wills, and causes him to forget what He wills.”

It is related from Abu Dharr that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: “The scriptures of Abraham were sent down after three nights of Ramadan had elapsed; another report says, on the first night of Ramadan. The Torah of Moses was sent down after six nights of Ramadan had elapsed; the Gospel was sent down to Jesus after thirteen nights of Ramadan had elapsed; the Psalms of David were sent down after eighteen nights of Ramadan had elapsed; and the Criterion was sent down to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, on the twenty-fourth of—”